There is no guarantee that qualifying for the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff will prevent players on the participating teams from entering the NCAA transfer portal.
Tennessee is a prime example of that.
The ninth-seeded Volunteers (10-2) will play at eighth-seeded Ohio State (10-2) in an anticipated first-round pairing on Saturday, Dec. 21, and they will do so without at least six players who competed throughout the regular season.
“I respect all those guys who have been here and went into the portal and left,” Tennessee fifth-year senior defensive tackle Omari Thomas said Tuesday in a news conference. “They’re doing what’s best for them. We would love to have those guys here with us on this journey that we’re going on right now, but in that situation, they have to do what’s best for them.
“All we can do is respect it and get ready to fight with the guys we do have here.”